This can probably be traced back to my dad. He was a composer and pianist, and was extremely well read. He would often read popular science books by Stephen Hawking, Ian Stewart, or Stephen Jay Gould.
We would go on long walks together, or rather he would walk, and I would cycle along on my little bike. He would then tell me what he had been reading about. I well remember learning all kind of exciting things about astronomy or evolution. All totally beyond what I was learning at school. This had an immense impact on me.
I was doing my PhD at the Netherlands Cancer Institute in the labs of René Bernards and Daniel Peeper. About half way my PhD, we did a paper for journal club during a course given by the graduate school. The paper was about some kind of ring-shaped protein complex called cohesin. This ring could somehow embrace DNAs and hereby ensure that cells could accurately divide.
I remember being captivated by the simplicity. Structure and function came together so beautifully. When I finished my PhD, I applied for a postdoc position with Kim Nasmyth, whose lab had discovered cohesin. And I have been investigating cohesin ever since. First as a postdoc, and for quite a while now with our own research group.
Well, yes. I studied history of art for one year at university. But in no way was this lost time or so. I learned a lot during that year, for example found my love for architecture. And more importantly, I met my girlfriend there! Despite loving history of art, towards the end of that year I did come to realise that science was more suited for me.
The adventure of discovery. Just think about it. The moment you make a discovery, you are potentially the only person in the whole world who knows that particular thing about how life works, or about how the universe works. That adventure in my view is unbeatable.
Funny, that is a question my son also asked me recently, when he interviewed me for school. I might then want to be an architect. No idea whether I would be any good at this, but I do love it when the beautiful and the functional meet.
Well, the end product of course would be very different, but many aspects of the process may be quite similar. Keep in mind that doing research requires lots of creativity. Identifying the right question, designing the best experiment, interpreting the data in the most meaningful manner, considering alternative explanations that may take you in unexpected directions. All deeply creative processes.
I love the mountains. Whether it is going for a walk in the valley, or driving my car up a serpentine road. I just love it there.